PM

Health workers urge anyone with breathlessness or dizziness to get to hospital quickly, after a mother in her 30s dies of COVID at her Western Sydney home. A special report on the behaviour of the SAS in Afghanistan and at their base in Perth. And the pandemic and climate change could cause the cost of a cup of coffee to go up.

We speak with Afghanistan's former Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who's with other anti-Taliban resistance figures inside the country and appealing to the world for assistance for their cause. As New South Wales hits its six million jab target, the debate swirls around future plans for lifting restrictions – we'll get another view on when the time is right. And why prominent Sydney GP and community leader Doctor Jamal Rifi has been labelled a traitor and sentenced to 10 years jail in Lebanon.

The Prime Minister promises a new dawn through vaccination, he’s pressuring states and territories to put aside doubts on lifting restrictions. The Doherty Institute's Professor Sharon Lewin joins us, on what happens if vaccination targets are met and COVID restrictions lift while case numbers are high. And former official war artist in Afghanistan Ben Quilty reflects on the chaotic return of the Taliban and why he's now fundraising for refugees.

A curfew, outdoor masks, and mandatory vaccines, a final push in New South Wales to stop the spiralling COVID crisis. We'll take you to the outbreak epicentre in south-west Sydney, where locals are contemplating more restrictions and a longer lockdown. As the Taliban takes over, Afghan Australians who helped our forces fear the worst for their loved ones trapped in Kabul.

Another record COVID case count in New South Wales, so what's the light at the end of the tunnel the Premier says she's seeing. The first group of rescued Australians and Afghans heading soon to Perth, but while the US controls the airport in Kabul – the Taliban control the checkpoints. And alarming figures showing tens of thousands of workers have given up on finding work because it's just too hard under lockdown conditions.

Dire predictions about how bad the COVID outbreak in NSW could get, with cases set to reach 1,000 per day. A fourth COVID wave is striking the US, we head to Texas for a view inside overstretched intensive care units. And despite growing global concern about a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, Australia won't lift its refugee intake leaving many there and here distraught.

A concession that Australia won't help all those who stood with our troops in Afghanistan, as the Taliban consolidates its control.  How will the Taliban govern – 20 years since it was last in power? We'll have analysis. But their reconquest of Afghanistan is not quite complete. To the Panjshir Valley, hosting thousands of the displaced because there, they have held out, and, an Australian-Afghan tells me, they remain defiant against the Taliban.

The Taliban declares the war in Afghanistan is over, the militant group is in control, but visceral fear rules for the people. Extended coverage of the return of the very extremists the US-led invasion 20 years ago was meant to root out of the country. And the latest on the worsening COVID outbreak in New South Wales, a tradie from Sydney's south-west tells us he hadn't seen masks being worn in his area until a week ago.

The New South Wales Premier tempers expectation of greater freedoms as the daily case number nears 400. And Afghanistan's second biggest city – Kandahar – falls to the Taliban, we’ll speak with Marc Jacobson, is a veteran of the conflict, and a former NATO representative.